Peter von Bagh

Kari Peter Conrad von Bagh (29 August 1943 – 17 September 2014) was a Finnish film historian and director. Von Bagh worked as the head of the Finnish Film Archive. He was the editor-in-chief of Filmihullu magazine and co-founder and director of the Midnight Sun Film Festival. Since 2001, he had been the artistic director of the film festival Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna. Von Bagh was a member of the jury in the competition category of 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Films directed by Peter von Bagh are screened at prestigious international forums, including an extensive retrospective of his works at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and Festival Internacional de Cine Independente in Buenos Aires in 2012, and at the Tromsø International Film Festival in 2013.

Principal works of Peter von Bagh's production of approximately 40 non-fiction books, mostly on cinema, and some 60 films for both the cinemas and television include his internationally successful films Helsinki, Forever (2008) and Sodankylä, Forever (2010–2011, a documentary series of the first twenty-five years of the Midnight Sun Film Festival), Song of Finland ("The Story of Art in Finland During the Era of Independence", a twelve-episode television series, YLE 2003–04, and a book published by WSOY 2007), Elokuvan historia ("History of Cinema", a 52-episode radio series, YLE and a book published by W&G 1975, Otava 1998, 2004) and Tähtien kirja ("The Book of Stars", Otava, 2006). The book Aki Kaurismäki has been translated into several languages. He died in 2014 at the age of 71.